The Blacklist: Life in High School
by warehouseluver13
Summary: Ever wondered what high school was like for Liz, her team and Reddington (& Luli & Dembe)? Look no further than this AU story! Ever since foster kids Liz and Donald have met, Don has been protective of Liz as if she was his own sister. But as Liz enters her sophomore year, and Don enters his senior year of HS, will he always be able to catch Liz when she falls? Read on to find out!
1. Prelogue: Foster Care

**_Hey everyone! I recently joined The Blacklist fandom, and this muse was begging to be written, hence I give you the prologue! Please leave a comment below if I should continue the story!_**

**_ -warehouseluver13_**

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><p><em>Flashback: (Don's POV)<em>

_Today I heard a new girl from the system is going to join our house which is unfortunate because rumors are that she is a rookie to the system, which means fresh blood for the perverts (aka the thirteen year old boys here… thank God I'm only twelve) I've been stuck with for the past year… So, I promised myself as soon as the new girl arrives I'm going to warn all the others that if I ever find a scratch on her, I'll kill them myself and I'll make it clear that I won't regret it either. I swear I heard… crap! It's Miss Gretchen with the new girl! Focus Don, focus._

_"__Children! Children! Circle up! There is someone here that I would like all of you to meet! Kids, this is Elizabeth. Lizzie darling, this is Scott, Dexter, Drew, Tommy, DeeDee, DJ, Emily and Don. Well, I have to go check on dinner, so you all play nice now," said Miss Gretchen._

_I watched the rest of the boys innocently smile at our foster mother before replying with "Yes Miss Gretchen," before she disappeared back into the kitchen._

_As soon as she left, the rest of the foster kids dropped their innocent charade and circled up around the girl as if they were hungry hyenas stalking a baby gazelle. The poor girl looked about ten years old- she had brown hair with matching brown eyes, and a medical bandage wrapped securely around her right wrist. I have to admit that I even grew uncomfortable from just watching them intimidating the new girl, but I chose to remain silent and to keep myself at an arm's length, promising to intervene only if they switched to violent intimidation tactics._

_"__Hiya rookie. So you're new to the system? What happened to your wrist? Did you try to end your miserable life after mommy and daddy died?" Dexter snarled._

_Although the little girl's eyes seemed to be swelling with tears, it was Dexter's harsh comment that caught my attention. Before I entered the system, I had an older sister who ended up taking her own life by accidentally overdosing on drugs, which happened a few days after our parents were killed in a car crash. At that moment, I didn't care what the others would think of me- I'll be damned if Dexter is going to add to her mile long list of problems. _

_I quickly stepped in front of the girl and shoved Dexter to the ground, managing to catch him off guard. "Fuck off Dex, can't you see she's just a little girl?" I snarled._

_"__Here to save the day Ressler, or are you going to tattle on us instead to dear old Gretchen?"_

_"__I guess I learned to save the day from reading your old Captain America comic books," I smirked._

_Dex was on the verge of fuming, knowing that I probably touched his first editions. "Ressler, I'm going to suffocate you in your sleep if you ever touch them again,"_

_"__Grow up Dex. Come on…. (Drawing a blank on the girl's name) Ellie. Let's go check out your room. Just ignore Dex and his friends," I smiled in the young girl's direction as I gently wrapped a hand around her good wrist to lead her to our shared rooms._

_"__Hey Ressler! Have fun with your new girlfriend!" Dexter taunted.  
><em>

_"Thanks! Are you ever going to get one pot breath?" I yelled back._

_I felt the young girl pull my shirt to get my attention. "My name's Elizabeth," she said as she cracked a small smile._

_"__How about I only call you Ellie. It can be our secret!" I looked around for effect, "Shhh!" I said._

_Ellie giggled. "Okay Donny," _

_"__Okay, I'm going to let you know that I'm only going to let you call me Donny. If anyone else calls me by that, I'll slit their throat like Davey Jones does to his traitors," I said._

_Ellie's eyes went wide as I pretended to slit my throat. "You're a pirate?"_

_"__The mightiest pirate of the high seas Ellie- didn't I just tell you?" I asked._

_"__Nope," she replied._

_"__Then onward lassie! The Jolly Roger be awaitin' for her crew!" I said as I raced off to my bottom bunk._

_"__Wait for me Donny!" I heard Ellie shriek as she followed me._

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><p><strong><em>Thoughts? Also, I was wondering if anyone would be a beta reader for me, because I like really really need one.<em>**

**_-warehouseluver13_**


	2. 5 Years Later

_**I'm back with chapter 2! Please R&R!**_

_**-warehouseluver13**_

_A/N: The Blacklist isn't mine, just borrowing the characters from it._

_A/N 2: Bold font in this chapter equals text message._

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><p>3rd Person POV…<p>

As they grew older, Don and Liz managed to stay in the same foster homes over the years, with Don always by her side to protect her from the perverts they encountered. In fact, they've managed to stay with a kind middle aged couple for the past two years, the Andersons.

Today is the first day of Liz's sophomore and Don's senior year of high school. Don and Phil Anderson are anxiously waiting in Phil's red convertible; both are waiting for Liz to join them.

Annoyed at his foster sister's slow pace, Don leaned on the horn of the convertible.

"Ellie, come on! I don't want to be late for our first day!" He shouted.

"I'm coming Donny! Geez! Don't you remember that I'm a girl?" Liz teased as she climbed into the back seat of Phil's convertible.

With ease, Phil backed out of the driveway to head towards Omaha's local high school.

"Of course I remember Ellie! That's why I was yelling!" Don shot back.

In retaliation, Liz stuck her tongue out at her foster brother.

Don rolled his eyes. "SO mature Ellie!"

"Okay, I call a cease fire!" Phil said, as he tried to do damage control between the siblings.

"Do both of you have your lunches?" he asked.

"Yes Phil," the foster siblings answered.

"Good, and remember the both of you, no more food fights in the cafeteria," Phil warned.

Don shrugged his shoulders. "Technically, that fight wasn't our fault,"

"Just don't let it happen again," Phil growled.

"Would you look at that, we're here!" Don exclaimed in an attempt to change the subject.

"Come on Don! I want to see if we share any classes together!" Liz yelled, in an attempt to help her foster brother's cause.

"Ellie, I'm a senior and you're a sophomore. How exactly are we going to share any classes together?" Don asked as he helped her out of the back of the convertible.

"Easy- I'm just as smart as you! Let's go! I want to see if I got into AP Pre-Calculus!" Liz retorted.

Don rolled his eyes in mock disbelief. "Okay Ellie. Thanks for the ride Phil,"

"Anytime kids," Phil grunted.

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><p>Don and Liz finally parted ways to head to their homerooms to receive their respective schedules.<p>

As Don was sitting in his homeroom examining his schedule, he received a text from Liz.

**Ellie: TOLD YOU! :)**

"I'll be damned," Don swore as he looked at the picture of Liz's schedule she sent him attached to the text.

He thought for a moment before texting her back.

**Don: Congrats! Is Meera in your homeroom?**

Meera was a foster girl they both befriended last year when they moved in with the Andersons. In fact, she only lives two streets down from their foster home.

**Ellie: Yes! (she says hi btw) What about Aram and Cooper? They with you?**

Don befriended Harold Cooper (He prefers Cooper) and Aram after they saved him from being pranked by the varsity football team, and they have been friends ever since. (Aram is Cooper's adopted brother from the system.)

Don looked up to scan the room for his friends he was unable to see over the summer, and easily spotted them. He smiled and waved in their direction, and they mirrored the same greeting before coming over to join him.

"Res! What's up? How was your summer?" Cooper asked.

"I'm just texting Ellie. Our summer was boring, as usual. How about you guys?" Don remarked.

"Check it: I was a lifeguard for the entire summer at my aunt's elite resort. The babes were totally smokin', if you catch my drift," said Cooper.

"I spent my entire summer playing my new World of Warcraft game!" Aram exclaimed.

Don and Cooper rolled their eyes. "Translation," Cooper said, "he spent every waking moment online. In fact, I think he even duck taped his windows shut!" he joked.

Don and Cooper exploded with laughter while Aram frowned, displeased that they were laughing about how he wasted his summer.

"Give me a minute guys, I just got to reply to Ellie," said Don.

**Don: Yeah they're here… do you and Meera share any classes?**

"Let's see if any of our classes line up Res," said Aram.

"Okay, here," Don replied, handing his schedule to his friend.

Liz's new text message popped up and Don opened it.

**Ellie: Yeah, we have bio, gym, civics, lunch period, & study together.**

As the principal walked in and cleared her throat, Don quickly stuffed his phone in his pocket. Three students quietly filed in after her to stand in front of the whole homeroom.

Don studied the new students as the principal waited for everyone's attention. There were two boys, one Caucasian, the other African-American. The other student was a girl who looked of Asian descent. Before Don could decipher anything else, the principal began to speak.

"Ms. Wilson, students, I would like you to meet your new classmates," she said as she took out a piece of paper.

"Dembe, Luli Zeng, and Raymond Reddington. You will treat them with respect, or I will personally call each and every one of you down to my office to have a nice chat. Good day," said the principal before she left.

"Good morning everyone, I'm –" Ms. Wilson began.

"Hold it teach- I have something to say to all my classmates. I go by Red. If I catch anyone calling me anything else, Dembe here will have you knocked out so fast you won't be able to say ER. We clear?" The Caucasian student demanded.

Don was pretty shocked when he even saw the jocks and cheerleaders agreeing with the new guy and his posse.

"Whoa," said Aram.

"Dude, we have GOT to befriend the new guy and his crew. We would be untouchable!" Cooper said.

Before Don could object, Cooper called the new guy over.

"Hey Red, you guys are welcomed to hang with us," Cooper remarked.

"Cooper, I hope you know what you're doing," Don muttered.

Red and his friends approached the small group, only for Red to study each of them down one at a time with his intimidating stare.

"You," Red said, as he pointed at Don, "are you in the system?" He asked as he lifted his right converse to reveal some foster home names.

Don flashed a grim smile. "Yup," he said, as he lifted his left converse to prove his time in the system.

"As you were," Red announced to the stunned homeroom.

"You have to teach me how to do that Red! By the way, I'm Aram, that's Cooper, and that's Don,"

"Pleasure to meet you Aram," said Red as the bell rang for passing time.

"Any of you veterans willing to show us around?" Red asked.

"Of course! Let's compare all our schedules to see how they align… it seems Luli and I have AP Environmental Science together, Dembe and Cooper share AP Biology, and it looks like Red and Don share AP Pre-Calculus," said Aram.

"Okay, so we're in agreement that we'll catch up during lunch, because it seems like the majority of our schedules line up with Luli, Dembe and Red," said Cooper.

"Deal," said Aram.

"Wait I didn't say-" Don started.

"How about we meet up at lunch to discuss future plans, otherwise we are going to be LATE FOR CLASS," said Cooper, interrupting his friend and silencing him with a glare.

"Okay," said a defeated Don.

Cooper, Dembe, Aram and Luli took off heading towards their first AP class they shared, leaving Don with Red alone to head to AP Pre-Calculus.

Red smirked. "Lead on cowboy,"

Don groaned, but chose not to reply to Red's teasing comment.

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><p>As Don and Red entered their advanced placement math class, Don inwardly groaned as he saw Liz waving him down to join her group. Unfortunately for him, Red also noticed her.<p>

"Who's the hot one waving you down? You're girlfriend?" Red teased.

"She's my foster sister, so be nice, she's only a sophomore," Don growled.

"No seriously. She's your foster sister?" Red asked.

Don stared him down.

"Okay, okay, I get it. So, is she single?" Red asked interested.

This time Don glared at him.

Don walked over to his foster sister (with Red in tow) whose group conveniently lacked two other members.

"Hey Ellie! How was homeroom?" Don asked.

"Meera said she wants to catch up with you after school. Otherwise than that, same old, same old. Who's your friend?" Liz remarked.

"This is – " Don started.

"Raymond Reddington, at your service m' lady," Red smoothly cut in.

Liz giggled. "And they say chivalry is dead,"

"I must be the last knight in existence for someone as beautiful as you to say that," said Red.

"Kiss ass," Don coughed.

"Relax," Red coughed back.

"As I was saying, Red this is Elizabeth. Ellie, this is… Red," said Don.

The bell rings to signal the start of class and their math teacher walks to the front of the room.

"Will you all please get settled into your seats and we shall begin." The teacher sent a glare in the direction of Red and Don to hurry up.

"Lizzie, you don't mind if we join your group, do you?" Red politely asked.

"Not at all Red," said Liz as she moved to the middle seat of the group.

"Why did you do that Ellie?" Don asked, puzzled.

"So neither of you would fight over sitting next to me," Liz simply replied.

"Fine by me," said Red, as he sat down in the seat to the right of Liz, leaving Don with the one on the left.

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><p><em><strong>Apologies if you thought this chapter was short! I welcome thoughts, comments, &amp; ideas! Please leave them below!<strong>_

_**-warehouseluver13**_


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